Hydrosilations are defined as addition reactions involving organic and inorganic silicon hydrides and systems with multiple bonds. They can proceed via free radical mechanisms; however, as reported in the Comprehensive Handbook on Hydrosilation (Pergamon Press, 1992), such hydrosilations proceed via predominantly polar mechanisms when catalyzed by transition metal salts and complexes.
It is desirable to hydrosilate compounds in order to introduce, to the compounds, silicon-carbon bonds. The resulting compounds, for example, may be used as functionalized precursors to be incorporated into resin materials.
Often, however, it is known that hydrosilations of unsaturated monomers lead to competing undesired polymerizations and/or crosslinking of the monomers. These resulting polymerized and/or crosslinked monomers can gel, resulting in an undesired product.
The instant invention, therefore, is directed to a novel process for hydrosilating unsaturated monomers which unexpectedly results in a decrease in polymerization and/or crosslinking.